Seth Godin Hates Being Organized

I went to see Seth Godin to talk about organizing. And I was nervous. 

To get to his office I took the train from Manhattan to Westchester on a sunny February day.

I sat by the window. I watched the white caps on the Hudson as we made our way north. I put my head on the window and closed my eyes.

The night before I had stayed up late to put the finishing touches on the usual prep email I send to guests. I had read every article he’d written about productivity and organization. I had listened to previous podcasts, and reread a few of his books. 

The email was lengthy, and each question cited at least a few of his blog posts — I wanted him to know that I’d done my research, and that I wanted to go deep.

I fired it off at 10 PM the night before, exhausted but feeling a little proud and very ready to get on the train to interview him the next day. 

I woke up early the next morning and read his response to the questions I had crafted:

“I'm happy to try, and I'm looking forward to seeing you. But I think the biggest takeaway for your readers will be how little my life reflects the questions you want to ask me.”